'I’ve never seen anything like this before'

Friday

Craven County residents woke up to a battered, flooded world Friday morning after a punishing night of heavy wind, rain and storm surge flooding from Hurricane Florence.

Amanda Parker, a public information officer with Craven County Emergency Services, said that as of 10 a.m. Friday county emergency workers had not yet been able to get out to do damage assessment. She said the Emergency Operations Center had received more than 100 calls for assistance since the onset of the storm Thursday. According to Parker, there are five swift-water rescue teams operating in the county as well as the Louisiana Cajun Navy.

“They’re doing everything they can to get to residents who are experiencing flooding just as fast as they can,” said Parker. “We’ve had people trapped on rooftops, in their vehicles, and also in their attics.”

Parker said most of the rescue calls had come from low-lying areas of Craven County, such as Fairfield Harbour, Harlowe and downtown New Bern and River Bend.

“We’re getting out and helping people. It helps a lot more now that we have daylight. We had the darkness working against us during the nighttime hours,” Parker said. “Of course, we have high water and wind and downed power lines, so some areas are easier to get to and some will take a little bit longer.″

Parker said over the next 24 hours Craven County Emergency Services would be “in rescue mode” helping citizens who need help.

“We’re still expecting possibly 24 more hours of this giant hurricane that we have over us producing more water, so we’re still going to be in the middle of this storm and providing rescue operations.”

New Bern officials have stated that the city’s water system is stable and has not lost pressure. As of Friday morning, water tanks were full and the water was safe for consumption, according to officials.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the Neuse River is recording more than 10 feet of inundation. City officials report at least 150 people were awaiting rescue in New Bern early Friday morning, with extensive flooding throughout the downtown area.

As of 5 a.m. Friday, 200 people had already been rescued as waters rose on the Neuse and Trent rivers, according to Colleen Roberts, a city public information officer.

The city of New Bern's website posted a message for those still trapped by floodwaters: “WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU. You may need to move up to the second story, or to your attic, but WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU.”

Mayor Dana Outlaw described the storm as devastating. He said city staff had estimated there may be as many as 4,200 homes with damage in the New Bern area.

“I’ve been riding around with one of the police officers and the streets are flooded, National Avenue, Oaks Road, downtown, just so many different areas,” Outlaw said.

The mayor said rescue efforts were still underway in New Bern.

“A couple of hours ago we had rescued 200, and we’re still needing to rescue 150, so the main thing now is to keep people off the road until we get roads cleared and get the power lines,” Outlaw said. “It’s very dangerous out there trying to restore power lines when you have 50 and 60 mph winds.”

Outlaw said 22,000 customers were without power Friday morning.

“The city is really good about getting power turned back on, but this one is a tough one.”

Outlaw said the destruction unleashed by Hurricane Florence was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is kind of like (Hurricane) Hazel, it’s just a real water event. All the flooding and on top of that the ground is so saturated now, a little bit of wind and these trees are falling right over,” he said.

Outlaw said it would take some time to determine the full extent of damage from the storm.

“We don’t know just yet. As soon as the wind dies down we can get our crews out and then we can make an assessment of what we’re dealing with and how much time it’s going to take to get it back up.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.

Advertising

News

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
New Bern Sun Journal ~ 3200 Wellons Blvd., New Bern, NC 28562 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service